At first I thought this was a straight random weird kids movie that decided, just because, to spend several lines of dialogue in the beginning explaining why their aliens happen to speak English. And then it became... something else. Something *special*.

The aliens probably assumed that the understandable trouble they had learning grammar the usual way would cause massive problems, and wanted to expedite the process for when the time comes to teach their entire species.

First he learns English from some old guy at a NY deli, then he grills a pair of squirrels in novelty wigs over the methodology of human linguistics? And he's the leader of a race of beings who just one day somehow FORGOT their own method of communication, with a second-in-command who can't even hold the basic premise of their mission in his memory for the length of time it takes to reach Earth. So apparently, if marauding aliens ever do invade us, all we have to do is pelt them with Adderall and 7th grade text books and they'll leave us the hell alone!